Were they all tourists who didn’t know about the public transport system?

Apparently not.

I suspect that most people were driving in cars because they hadn’t even thought about catching public transport.

This is a problem that afflicts so many people around the world.

Transport by private motor vehicle has become so cheap and ‘convenient’ that a large proportion of people own a car and jump in it to go places.

Without any thought about the damage it is doing to the environment (especially in terms of global warming).

Or their health.

Or their community.

Or even whether it is actually convenient. (How often have you sat in traffic or driven round and round looking for a carpark?)

Can you tell me, for example, why one of my teenagers would rather drive in a cold car to the city, spend ages trying to find a carpark, walk a long way in the cold from the car to the venue, and then do the reverse to get home…instead of walking about 200m to a warm bus that delivers them almost to the door (and back)?

And, no, ‘someone might see me’ just isn’t a good enough reason.

In fact, it’s just the opposite.

Seeing other people use public transport can make it more socially acceptable.

And the more people that use public transport, the better it becomes.

And the more liveable and people-friendly our urban areas become.

So many state and local governments are trying to do the right thing with public transport (like Queensland’s Translink), but their efforts go unrewarded if hardly anyone uses it.

In several countries, though, people are using public transport more and more. Including people in the United States. And young people. (If you want to read more about this, The Washington Post has a good article on it.

So…will you choose to take public transport…at least some of the time?

Tell me about your efforts to use public transport more often…or about finding it too hard. Just leave your comments in the Reply box below …or send me a voice message by clicking on the tab on the right.